Each year local libraries schedule a program to encourage the community’s young readers to continue their reading during summer vacation. This year’s Summer Reading Program (SRP), Dig Into Reading, invites them to read about subjects that interest them.

Several programs and events have been planned to inspire and entertain participants. Special programs and incentives will be offered this summer because of the generous support that the Wiscasset Public Library Children’s Room has received from The Friends of the Library, local businesses and individuals.

Children of all ages and reading abilities can register beginning Tuesday, June 18 at 10 a.m. in the Children’s Room. The deadline for registration is Wednesday, July 10. Friday, August 2, is the deadline for completion of the SRP.

All readers that complete the SRP will be invited to a new show by Amazing Lou in August. A folder with information and scheduling will be given out at registration. The schedule of events will be posted on the web at www.wiscasset.lib.me.us and on Facebook.

On June 20, at 10:30 a.m., the Children’s Room will hold its last Story Time until September. After the story, all are invited to dig in the Monarch Butterfly Garden and plant annuals.

Members of the Garden Club of Wiscasset and children from the community planted this Monarch Butterfly Garden way-station two years ago. This year’s planting of annuals coincides with the Summer Reading Program and young and old are invited to join in the digging.

Georgi Thompson returns to our SRP again with a presentation “Let’s Talk Dinosaurs” on Thursday, June 27, at 10:30 a.m. Thompson is a former Maine educator of gifted students and a recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science.

The Chewonki Foundation’s Traveling Natural History Program entitled “Stories from the Forest” will take place on Friday July 12, at 3 p.m., in the Library’s Fiction Room.

On Friday, June 19, at 10:30 p.m., young and old alike can learn what a geologist says about, “Taking Care of Our Land.”

“Visit the Diggers” is the program on Friday, June 26, at 10 p.m. This will be an opportunity to see, touch and hear about the big equipment used by the Wiscasset Highway Department and will take place at the Town Garage.

Wiscasset Primary School teachers Donna Footer and Tracey Jackson will once again entertain the young readers with stories and activities on Tuesday, July 30, at 3:30 p.m. in the Children’s Room.

Wiscasset High School will be the location of a special fun program, “I Dig Rock & Roll Music.” Wiscasset Middle School teacher Warren Cossette will DJ this Sock Hop for summer reading participants and summer recreation campers. This event takes place on Friday, August 2, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.

The first 50 participants who complete the SRP will receive a Dig Into Reading T-shirt.

Local businesses, Lear’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream and Geppetto’s Workshop, have generously offered to award gift certificates to each participant who completes the SRP. Lear’s is offering a free ice cream cone and Geppetto’s, a $10 gift certificate. Other incentives for completing the SRP include a toy wooden barn, donated by Big Al’s, and three Kindles.